Friends,

There is a chance, a small chance, that I will be moving to Milwaukee at some point in the near future. Perhaps next spring. Details are sketchy...

If any of you Milwaukee residents could advise me on the best way to go about apartment hunting, neighborhoods I might want to live in or avoid, or any other Milwaukee facts or figures that may be of use, I would greatly appreciate it.

Additional info: I have lived in Chicago for about 13 years. I have been to Milwaukee perhaps a dozen times. I have always enjoyed this fine city.

Also: in Milwaukee, I will have a roommate, and we will require a 2-bedroom place, if not a 3-bedroom.

Bonus: if I end up moving to Milwaukee, I will more than likely only live there for one year. Unless I fall in love with your fair city and refuse to leave...


Thanks,
Mr. King

there's a lot i could tell you about milwaukee. i guess the first thing i would say is that the "cool areas" are the riverwest side and bayview. you can find nice little pockets on the southside, or the east side (which once upon a time was very cool), or brewer's hill, or even the third ward (lovely lofts though quite expensive), but these places are becoming more and more boojwazified with each passing day. riverwest is kinda ghetto and not the safest place at night, but along with bayview it probably has the most charm (communal happenings, neighborhood-owned businesses, concerts, co-ops, that sorta thing). if you're a newcomer a good place to live might be on the riverwest side east of humboldt or only a few blocks west (probably no where west of holton) near a main street (center or locust). it's kind of a sketchy area at night. not the best place to wander around alone. bayview is much safer though a little more tame. the catus club is there but it hasn't really aged well. it's a dive. the east side is all right, but it's overrun with students, whom you may or may not get along with. (oakland avenue has become very fratty). the globe shut down a few years back so most of the concerts that used to take place there now go on at mad planet. shorewood, just north of the eastside, is kinda nice, but there's no real night life there. it's a good place to raise kids (ask Rachael). same with wauwatosa, which is the first suburb west of milwaukee proper. there are some really nice dance nights in mke, particularly the get down (if you like heavy soul, rare funk, etc.) and the union cinema at uwm has an impressive program of films. (to be hoenst it totally fucking trumps providence, and i'm very proud it exists. it also happens to have a lot of killer FREE screenings.) riverwrest film video is where you wanna rent dvds if you're into that (i'm personally responsible for them carrying literally damn near 100 titles xav's picked up at my behest.) the milwaukee art museum is pretty good. doesn't hold a candle to what chicago has to offer, but it's far from third-rate. there are a lot of nice little galleries too. the bus system is pretty good. downtown is kind lame and dirty. race relations could deinfitely be better. ummm... there much more to tell, but i'm kinda drawing a blank now. it's a pretty good city. people are generally pretty unpretentious and easy to get to know. what else? oh, yeah, jeffery dahmer's from there, so there's that.

As my friend Eric told me, back when I was still considering moving to Milwaukee rather than out o' this state:

"If you're looking for a place, CraigsList looks promising:
http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/apa/
The newspaper rentals are at
http://www2.jsonline.com/rentals/

If you want advice on neighborhoods let me know, but you're probably looking at the East Side, Riverwest, or Bay View. This site has a lot of info/junk too: http://www.onmilwaukee.com/ "

As things turned out, I'll probably be moving to California instead, but that information and those few websites were of significant use to me when I was scoping Milwaukee out a few months back.

You may also want to try scanning--
www.dwd.state.wi.us/jobnet/mapWI.htm
www.wijobs.com
--for the jobs.

I have quite a few friends in the MKE whom I can refer you to if you would like advice on anything more specific than that general information.

haha moving TO Milwaukee?
why the fuck would anyone move TO Milwaukee?

I hope you like getting drunk.

Marsupialized wrote:haha moving TO Milwaukee?
why the fuck would anyone move TO Milwaukee?

I've only been there twice, but it seems like a nice city to live in. Reminds me of Baltimore, but a lot nicer.

Marsupialized wrote:haha moving TO Milwaukee?
why the fuck would anyone move TO Milwaukee?

After living in Oshkosh for 10 years, Milwaukee is a fucking joy.

If you need a bar to go to, the Circle A is a wise choice.

That's my contribution to this discussion.

Soup Bros in Milwakee is great.

oh, in the above i meant to say "east north avenue has become very fratty" though i suppose this might apply to oakland as well.

on the whole i think milwaukee's a pretty okay city. you could certainly do worse.